Wellbeing Economics

Wellbeing Economics

The AERU is committed to producing research that promotes sustainable wellbeing.

The Unit advocates for regional and national policies that expands the capabilities of New Zealanders to lead lives they value and have reason to value. Professor Paul Dalziel and Distinguished Professor Caroline Saunders have developed an AERU wellbeing framework that is informed by the capabilities approach to prosperity. It expands New Zealand Treasury’s Living Standards Framework (LSF). It recognises that to sustain wellbeing into the future, it is essential for a country to invest in maintaining the fundamental capital stocks that people rely on for creating and sustaining intergenerational wellbeing. The wellbeing framework spans seven capitals, and has included cultural, knowledge and diplomatic capital stocks. In addition, it incorporates human actions to emphasis human agency in creating, sustaining and expanding wellbeing. Agency begins with individual persons’ making choices, but also involves collaboration with an expanding range of people. These collaborative efforts can increase capabilities for wellbeing. The framework is an integral component of the AERU’s wellbeing-based approach to policy, industry, and research.

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